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From July to August 2017, a cluster-randomized controlled study was conducted at 10 RCHEs (5 intervention versus 5 nonintervention controls), where DOHH was performed at two-hourly intervals during daytime, before meals and medication rounds by a one trained nurse in each intervention RCHE. Environmental contamination by MRDOs, such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter species (CRA), and extended-spectrum β-lactamse (ESBL)–producing Enterobacteriaceae, was evaluated using specimens collected from communal areas at baseline, then twice weekly. The volume of alcohol-based hand rub (ABHR) consumed per resident per week was measured.

RESULTS

The overall environmental contamination of communal areas was culture-positive for MRSA in 33 of 100 specimens (33%), CRA in 26 of 100 specimens (26%), and ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae in 3 of 100 specimens (3%) in intervention and nonintervention RCHEs at baseline. Serial monitoring of environmental specimens revealed a significant reduction in MRSA (79 of 600 [13.2%] vs 197 of 600 [32.8%]; P<.001) and CRA (56 of 600 [9.3%] vs 94 of 600 [15.7%]; P=.001) contamination in the intervention arm compared with the nonintervention arm during the study period. The volume of ABHR consumed per resident per week was 3 times higher in the intervention arm compared with the baseline (59.3±12.9 mL vs 19.7±12.6 mL; P<.001) and was significantly higher than the nonintervention arm (59.3±12.9 mL vs 23.3±17.2 mL; P=.006).

CONCLUSIONS

The direct observation of hand hygiene of residents could reduce environmental contamination by MDROs in RCHEs.

Evidence suggests that autism and schizophrenia share similarities in genetic, neuropsychological and behavioural aspects. Although both disorders are associated with theory of mind (ToM) impairments, a few studies have directly compared ToM between autism patients and schizophrenia patients. This study aimed to investigate to what extent high-functioning autism patients and schizophrenia patients share and differ in ToM performance.

Methods

Thirty high-functioning autism patients, 30 schizophrenia patients and 30 healthy individuals were recruited. Participants were matched in age, gender and estimated intelligence quotient. The verbal-based Faux Pas Task and the visual-based Yoni Task were utilised to examine first- and higher-order, affective and cognitive ToM. The task/item difficulty of two paradigms was examined using mixed model analyses of variance (ANOVAs). Multiple ANOVAs and mixed model ANOVAs were used to examine group differences in ToM.

Results

The Faux Pas Task was more difficult than the Yoni Task. High-functioning autism patients showed more severely impaired verbal-based ToM in the Faux Pas Task, but shared similar visual-based ToM impairments in the Yoni Task with schizophrenia patients.

Conclusions

The findings that individuals with high-functioning autism shared similar but more severe impairments in verbal ToM than individuals with schizophrenia support the autism–schizophrenia continuum. The finding that verbal-based but not visual-based ToM was more impaired in high-functioning autism patients than schizophrenia patients could be attributable to the varied task/item difficulty between the two paradigms.

Improving neurocognitive outcomes following treatment for brain metastases have become increasingly important. We propose that a brief telephone-based neurocognitive assessment may improve follow-up cognitive assessments in this palliative population. Aim: To prospectively assess the feasibility and reliability of a telephone based brief neurocognitive assessment compared to the same tests delivered face-to-face. Methods: Brain metastases patients to be treated with whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT) were assessed using a brief validated neurocognitive battery at baseline, at 1 month and 3 months following WBRT (in person and over the phone). The primary outcome was feasibility and inter-procedural (in person versus telephone) reliability. The secondary objective was to evaluate the change in neurocognitive function before and after WBRT. Results: Out of 39 patients enrolled, 82% of patients completed the baseline in-person and telephone neurocognitive assessments. However, at 1 month, only 41% of enrolled patients completed the in-person and telephone cognitive assessments and at 3 months, only 10% of patients completed them. Results pertaining to reliability and change in neurocognitive function will be updated. Conclusion: The pre-defined definition of feasibility (at least 80% completion for face to face and telephone neurocognitive assessments) was met at baseline. However, a large proportion of participants did not complete either telephone or in person neurocognitive follow-up at 1 month and at 3 months post-WBRT. Attrition remained a challenge for neurocognitive testing in this population even when a telephone-based brief assessment was used.

To identify predictive factors and mortality of patients with influenza admitted to intensive care units (ICU) we carried out a prospective cohort study of patients hospitalized with laboratory-confirmed influenza in adult ICUs in a network of Canadian hospitals between 2006 and 2012. There were 626 influenza-positive patients admitted to ICUs over the six influenza seasons, representing 17·9% of hospitalized influenza patients, 3·1/10 000 hospital admissions. Variability occurred in admission rate and proportion of hospital influenza patients who were admitted to ICUs (proportion range by year: 11·7–29·4%; 21·3% in the 2009–2010 pandemic). In logistic regression models ICU patients were younger during the pandemic and post-pandemic period, and more likely to be obese than hospital non-ICU patients. Influenza B accounted for 14·2% of all ICU cases and had a similar ICU admission rate as influenza A. Influenza-related mortality was 17·8% in ICU patients compared to 2·0% in non-ICU patients.

For over three decades, bone conduction hearing aids have been changing the lives of patients with impaired hearing. The size, appearance and fitting discomfort of early generations of bone conduction hearing aids made them unpopular. The advent of bone-anchored hearing aids in the 1970s offered patients improved sound quality and fitting comfort, due to the application of osseointegration. However, the issue of post-operative peri-abutment pin tract wound infection persisted. The Bonebridge system incorporates the first active bone conduction device, and aims to resolve peri-abutment issues. Implantation of this system in an Asian patient is presented.

Aluminum (Al) gate fill has been implemented in Replacement Metal Gate (RMG) due to its low resistivity. Titanium (Ti) has been widely used as wetting layer for Al to fill the gates. For low resistance gate fill in structures with small feature size and high aspect ratio, Ti-Al metal fill becomes increasingly more challenging as we move from 20nm into 14nm FinFET and 3D type structures.

Cobalt (Co) is a good wetting film for Al with better fill performance and lower resistance than Ti-Al based process. However, due to the difference in corrosion potential between Al and Co, Chemical Mechanical Planarization (CMP) creates pitting type defects on Al-Co film that increases resistance variability across pattern density. CMP induced corrosion is separated in two parts; first is the static Co corrosion happened in the acidic chemical environment in the Al slurry. Second is the galvanic corrosion from Co-Al metal boundary due to high metal electrical potential. Static corrosion can be resolved by adding a Co corrosion inhibitor in the slurry formulation1. Galvanic corrosion can be minimized by controlling Co thickness deposition and formation of complete intermetallic phase. By controlling the removal rate with respect to corrosion rate we were able to suppress corrosion significantly.

We looked into compositions where the corrosion potential (Ecorr) gap between Al and Co is reduced to ≤10mV leading to reduced galvanic currents. Stabilization of the corrosion currents in both Al and Co was observed using potentiodynamic scans. The effect of pH, several oxidizers and additives on the open circuit potentials (Eoc) of Al and Co was investigated and it was found that solutions of KMnO4, saccharides and sulfonate group containing compounds help reduce the Ecorr gap in between Al and Co to ∼10 mV.

Controlling the Al gate height across pattern densities and gate lengths to within few nm is another challenge for Al CMP. The industry widely used approach is to clear all Al using a slurry with high selectivity to dielectric, followed by a CMP step using a non-selective Al-to-oxide slurry. Both polishing steps need to be optimized in parallel in order to remove the incoming spacer SiN divot, minimize Al loss on gates with high pattern density or long gate length, minimize oxide loss on large open areas while maintaining low defectivity.

In this paper we are presenting an innovate Al CMP process that demonstrated low gate resistance with tight distribution up to 80% pattern density. This work has been supported by the independent Bulk CMOS and SOI technology development projects at the IBM Microelectronics Division Semiconductor Research & Development Center, Hopewell Junction, NY 12533.

The cold, dry, and stable air above the summits of the Antarctic plateau provides the best ground-based observing conditions from optical to sub-millimetre wavelengths to be found on the Earth. Pathfinder for an International Large Optical Telescope (PILOT) is a proposed 2 m telescope, to be built at Dome C in Antarctica, able to exploit these conditions for conducting astronomy at optical and infrared wavelengths. While PILOT is intended as a pathfinder towards the construction of future grand-design facilities, it will also be able to undertake a range of fundamental science investigations in its own right. This paper provides the performance specifications for PILOT, including its instrumentation. It then describes the kinds of projects that it could best conduct. These range from planetary science to the search for other solar systems, from star formation within the Galaxy to the star formation history of the Universe, and from gravitational lensing caused by exo-planets to that produced by the cosmic web of dark matter. PILOT would be particularly powerful for wide-field imaging at infrared wavelengths, achieving near diffraction-limited performance with simple tip–tilt wavefront correction. PILOT would also be capable of near diffraction-limited performance in the optical wavebands, as well be able to open new wavebands for regular ground-based observation, in the mid-IR from 17 to 40 μm and in the sub-millimetre at 200 μm.

The use of the stapes coupling technique, employed in the Vibrant Soundbridge system, is technically less demanding than the vibroplasty technique, and is more likely to generate a positive outcome without significantly changing residual hearing or resulting in medical or surgical complication.

Method:

We report a patient with repeated left ossiculoplasty failure, who was successfully implanted with a Vibrant Soundbridge.

Conclusion:

We believe that the stapes coupling technique can provide natural stimulation to the inner ear, resulting in a better perceived sound quality.

This paper presents UV imaging results for a 256×256 AlGaN Focal Plane Array that uses a back-illuminated AlGaN heterostructure p-i-n photodiode array, with 30×30 μm2 unit cells, operating at zero bias voltage, with a narrow-band UV response between 310 and 325 nm. The 256×256 array was fabricated from a multilayer AlGaN film grown by MOCVD on a sapphire substrate. The UV response operability (>0.4×average) was 94.8%, and the UV response uniformity (σ/μ) was 16.8%. Data are also presented for back-illuminated AlGaN p-i-n photodiodes from other films with cutoff wavelengths ranging between 301 and 364 nm. Data for variable-area diagnostic arrays of p-i-n AlGaN photodiodes with a GaN absorber (cutoff=364 nm) show: (1) high external quantum efficiency (50% at V=0 and 62% at V=-9 V); (2) the dark current is proportional to junction area, not perimeter; (3) the forward and reverse currents are uniform (σ/μ=50% for forty 30×30 μm2 diodes at V=−40 V); (4) the reverse-bias dark current data versus temperature and bias voltage can be fit very well by a hopping conduction model; and (5) capacitance versus voltage data are consistent with nearly full depletion of the unintentionally-doped 0.4 μm thick GaN absorber layer and imply a donor concentration of 3-4×1016 cm−3.

Processable polymeric nonlinear optical materials can be synthesized by functionalizing a glassy macromolecule with chromophores having large quadratic hyperpolarizabilities, followed by poling in an electric field. In the present case, the functionalization of polystyrene with 4- (4-nitrophenylaza)(N-ethyl)(2-hydroxyethyl))aniline, 4-(4-N,N-dimethylaminostyryl) pyridine, and N-(4-nitrophenyl)-L-prolinol is described. Particularly noteworthy is the high level of chromophore units that can be incorporated into transparent films of these materials, the high second harmonic coefficients that can be achieved (as high as d33 – 11 × 10-9 esu at 1064 nm), and the long-term temporal stability of the second harmonic generation capacity.

Phosphorus ions were implanted into silicon layers deposited by low pressure chemical vapor deposition onto thermally oxidized silicon substrates. Thermal anneals diffused the phosphorus and the resulting depth profiles were determined by secondary-ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). Transmission electron microscopy shows that the polysilicon layers have a multi-layer pattern of grains. The phosphorus profiles are fit by a Monte Carlo simulation technique that includes both grain and grain-boundary diffusion. The grain-boundary diffusion coefficient is found to be thermally activated with an activation energy of 3.3 eV.

Slightly silicon rich oxides or off-stoichiometry oxides (OSO) have been prepared by LPCVD. When R, the nitrous oxide/silane ratio, equals or exceeds 30 these films have the refractive index and CV characteristics of stoichiometric CVD oxide. Injection into these oxides by oxides richer in silicon has been compared with injection into thermal oxides. We find that silicon rich oxides with higher silicon content having the same Research-article values provide the same enhancement of electron injection into thermal oxides and off-stoichiometry oxides. Conduction in off-stoichiometry oxides depends on preparation, but can be accounted for by tunneling between islands.

Thin films of an amorphous silicon-boron alloy with boron content 1–50 at.% have been deposited by low pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD). The boron content and film thickness of the samples were controlled by regulating the ratio of diborane and silane gases during the deposition. It was observed that the crystallization of the amorphous alloy took place at higher temperatures as boron concentration was increased. After a thermal oxidation was performed, the stoichiometry of die resulting oxide layers on various samples was determined by the secondary ion mass spectrometry and Auger depth profile methods. While the threshold temperature for thermal oxidation was determined to be inversely proportional to the boron concentration, the oxidation rate showed a dramatic increase with boron content. In particular, an alloy containing 30% boron was readily oxidized at 500°C. Mechanisms for the enhancement of oxidation consistent with stoichiometric and spectroscopic properties of the oxide layers are discussed.

Buried channel wave guides have been fabricated from thermally stable non linear optical polyimides. The Material system consists of a polyimide cladding and a polyimide based active Material. The buried channel wave guides are fabricated by a trench and fill process. This process was used for the fabrication of active wave guides at process temperatures above 300 °C. Single Mode wave guides, and Mach-Zenhder interferometers, were fabricated with attenuation < 2 dB/cm. Active Mach-Zehnder interferometers with a Vπ phase shift of 50 volts and the low attenuation were fabricated. Thermal aging of the poled active device demonstrated no change in activity after 30 Minutes at 230°C.